Hooked or throated needle



(-No Model.)

J. M. MERBOW. HODKED 0E THROATBD NEEDLE.

No. 415.310. Patented Nov. 19, 1889.

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M. MERROV, OF MERRON, CONNECTICUT.

HOOKED OR THROATED NEEDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 415,310, dated November 19, 1889.

Application filed March 27, 1889. Serial No. 304.948. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. MERRow, of Morrow, in the county of Tolland, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hooked or Throated Needles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.

In operating with hooked or throated nee dles it has been customary to reciprocate them in planes substantially parallel with the shaft of the needle, and, although other or additional motions are sometimes and for special purposes imparted to them, in most instances the direction of motion is such that when the thread has been received in the throat of the hook and is drawn in the form of a loop by the retraction of the needle it will extend on opposite sides across and beyond the end or point of the needle. The thread of the loop is thus brought more or less in the line of motion of the needle when advancing to again engage the thread, andit not infrequently happens, especiallyin knitting, crocheting, and sewing machines employingthis kind of a needle, that the thread of the loop carried by the needle willbe caught upon the point or diverted toward the front or open side of the hook, and thus be permitted to slip from or be dropped by the needle at times when it is requisite that the loop should remain upon the needle during the formation. or drawing of another loop.

My present invention is designed to overcome or in a great measure prevent this defective action of the needle upon or with respect to the loop carried thereby; and it consists in certain improvements in the form of the hook, and incidentally of the latch, where by, by the tension of the loop upon the hook, the thread is diverted or carried back on the hook and held in such relation to the point or extremity of the needle and the direction of motion given the latter that the loop will not be permitted to escape, but will be shed onto the shaft and held thereon during the advance ofthe needle.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a needle, showing my improvements as .applied to a latch-needle, the latter co-operating with a plate to illustrate the formation of a loop. Fig. 2 is a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a rear elevation, of the latch-needle. Fig.4: is a transverse sectional view on the line 00 0c of Fig. 1.

Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.

As the improvements relating to the form of the hooked end of the needle are applicable alike to plain crochet-hooks and to needles provided with any of the well-known forms of latches or similar devices, I will first describe those features.

The letterAdesignates the body or shaft of the needle, of any desired form, dimensions, and material, and B the hook. The open side of the hook where the thread enters is herein termed the front of the hook. The end 11 is referred to as the point or apex of the needle; a, the throat, I) the back, and l) the sides, of the hook.

In forming the hook one or both of the sides 1) is made to extend laterally beyond the side of the back bthat is to say, the front portion of the hook is made considerably thicker than the back in a longitudinal direction, the rear edges of the side or sides I) being inclined rearwardly toward the back I), forming a longitudinal shoulder 19 in rear of the axis of the needle, and if the latter is provided with a pointed end, as at W, in rear of the latter, so that when the thread lying in the throat a is drawn across the face or side of the hook, as shown in Fig. 1, the line of least resistance being in a direction toward the back of the hook, the thread will be carried toward' the rear of the hook and diverted onto the shaft as the needle is advanced. To facilitate this movement or carrying of the thread back upon the hook the throatais so proportioned and formed that its apex will stand substantially in line with, or preferably extightly around the hook in a line substaning above the plate.

the plate D.

throat a, although assisting materially in eftially parallel with the axis of the needle will be carried to the rear and held back of the shoulder or shoulders 19 so that as the needle is moved laterally or advanced the thread of the loop on the side toward which the needle is moving will be engaged by the backwardly inclined or curved end of the needle and the loop slipped down onto the shaft. To more clearly illustrate this action I have shown the needle in Fig. 1 as engaging a loop of the thread C and drawing the same around a plate D in a manner common to a well-known class of overseaming or crocheting machines. The needle is represented as reciprocating, in a plane substantially parallel with its longitudinal axis, alternately above and beneath the plate D, to grasp the thread (carried by an eye-pointed needle) and draw a loop first on one side and then on the other of said plate. The needle has drawn a loop from beneath the plate D beyond the outer edge, and is moving vertically preliminary to advanc- The threads (Z d of the loop are thus brought against the under side of the plate, thereby somewhat increasing the pressure of the thread d upon the upper side of the hook, and at the, same time drawing the lower thread d away from the shoulder Won the lower side of the hook. It thus happens that the lower thread (Z' stands in a more direct line with the throat a while the upper thread, or that toward which the hook is moving, is forced back and held by the shoulder b toward the rear side of the hook, thus causing the upper thread (1' to stand farther back, so that it will be forced into the shaft of the needle as the latter rises and advances above The rearward extension of the fecting this action, is not essential thereto. The laterally-extended sides I) of the hook are preferably curved slightly in the direction of their length, as indicated in the drawings, to facilitate the slipping of the threads.

As hereinbefore stated, any approved form of a latch can be used in connection with a hook such as described; but for certain purposes I prefer what is known as the spoonlatch E, pivotally supported and oscillating in a longitudinal slot 6 in the shaft A, and co-operating with the point a of the hook in the usual manner. The spoon e of the latch is wider than its shank on the slot 6 in the needle, and in order that it may not project to such a distance beyond the surface of the shank (when thrown back as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1) as to obstruct the passage of the needle through the loop the walls of the slot 6 are cut away, as indicated at c for the reception of the back of the spoon a, so that the latter may pass below the outer face of the shank.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is 1. As a new article of manufacture, a

throated or hooked needle such as herein described, having the front portion of its hook thicker than the back, as set forth.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a

throated or hooked needle such as described,

comprising a shaft provided with a hook whose front portion is extended laterally on the sides beyond, and provided with longitudinal shoulders, as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, the hereinbefore-described improved needle, c011- sisting of a shaft provided withahook whose front portionis thicker than its back, and provided with a rearwardlyinclined side forming a longitudinal shoulder, substantially as set forth.

4:. As a new article of manufacture, a

throated or hooked needle having a pointed extremity, narrow back, laterally-extended hook, and rearwardly-converging sides forming shoulders extendinglongitudinally of the needle in rear of the point, substantially as described.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a hooked or throated needle, the same consisting of a shaft, a hook-shaped end, the throat whereof is extended rearwardly beyond the longitudinal axis of the needle, and the side provided with a deflecting-shoulder between point and throat.

(5. As a new article of manufacture, a

for use in connection with a thread-carrier and plate to form loops upon opposite sides of the latter, the same comprising a shaft with a hook-shaped end, and a latch co-opcrating therewith, the front portion of said hook being thicker than the back, and the sides converging rearwardly forming longitudinally-deflecting surfaces or shoulders for passing the thread back upon the hook as the needle is carried around the edge of the plate, substantially as described.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a hooked or throated needle such as described, the same consisting of a shaft provided with a hook, the rear portion whereof, from the throat to the end of the needle, is narrower in cross-section than the front portion of the hook, substantially as described.

8. As a new article of manufacture, a hooked or throated needle consisting of a shaft terminating in a point and provided with a hook of greater width than the shaft in rear of the throat and terminating in a point, the highest point of the throat standing in rear of the point of the needle, substantially as described.

9. As a new article of manufacture, the herein-described improved latch-needle, the same comprising a shaft having a hook portion, and a spoon-latch co-operating with the hook and pivotally supported in a longitudinal slot in the shaft, the outer edges of the walls of said slot being separated, as at e to accommodate the spoon of the latch when the latter is thrown back upon the shaft, as set in alongitndinal slot provided with diverging forth. walls below the pivot of the latch to accom- 1o 10. As a new article of manufacture, the modate the spoon, substantially as described. herein-described improved needle, consistin VT 5 of a shaft terminating in a point and pro JOSEPH vided with the widened hook portion and Witnesses: rearwardly inclined throat, and the spoon- CHAS. F. THAYER,

latch co-operating with the hook and pivoted CHAS. S. AVERY. 

